Long enough for the full, horrible truth of that night to dawn on me. All the lies I’d been told. All the ways I’d been steered and maneuvered. All the smiles to my face while the knife struck my back.
I stood there... and everything became clear.
Stiff, cramping legs bent and dropped onto the floor. Carefully, I tucked the clothes back into its plastic bag, and picked up the thumb drive. I didn’t know what was on it, but I could guess it was worth killing for.
There was only one thing to do with it all now.
I hurried down the stairs, the car keys already clutched in my hand and ready to take me away from here.It’s early, but Courtney will forgive me for waking her up. I need her with me when I go to the police stat—
“Hey, babe.”
I screamed. Whirling around, the light fell on my blown eyes and terrified face as he emerged from the front sitting room.
His smirk didn’t fade even as his gaze drifted down to the items in my hand. “Now, what are you doing with that?” Alex drawled, grin widening. “I’ve been looking all over for it.”
I breathed hard, breaths coming in rapid pants. Knees shaking, hands trembling, chest constricting, I stumbled over my feet—backing away as Alex slowly moved between me and the door.
“Alex, what. The. Fuck?” My voice was no more than a strangled rasp. “What are you doing here? You scared the life out of me.”
“Well, so did you,” he mused, shrugging. “When I woke up and found you gone, I got worried.” He cocked his head—that eerie smile even more unsettling the wrong way up. “It was when you took my phone to call that friend of yours, wasn’t it? You looked through my call logs and saw I never called my aunt that night.” He snapped his fingers. “Rookie mistake.”
I backed away until I hit the stair railing. What could I do? Did it even make sense to run? How far could I possibly get?
“You lied to me.” My hand shook holding up the plastic bag. “You lied about everything. You were in my mother’s room that night—you!And then you turned the clock back and swaggered into a change of clothes so that no one was the wiser. And this whole time, you’ve sat back and watched me—watched all of us—twist ourselves into knots trying to figure out the truth. You’ve watched people die!
“How could you, Alex? How could you!?”
He blinked lazily in the face of my rage. “All right, sure, I may have told a few fibs—”
Fibs?!
“—but, honestly, I’m finding all of this outrage a bit hypocritical. I mean, who are you to talk about liars when you’re not Soo Min.”
A deep, chilling quiet pierced my soul.
“This whole time you’ve been pretending to be my wife while fooling my daughter, and sleeping with Micah and Rhodes.” He cocked a brow. “Naughty, naughty imposter.”
“I— I don’t know what y-you’re t-t-talking about.” Everything went white and cold. I didn’t know what a stroke felt like, but it had to be this. “You’re cr—”
“Oh, please, save it.” Alex straight rolled his eyes. “You got the look down, but for personality and mannerisms it’s an F-minus. The woman I married is cruel, selfish, greedy, and narcissistic. But you...?” he cried, leaning back and holding his hands out to me. “You’re perfect.
“You’re sweet, smart, funny, loving, and gorgeous.”
I couldn’t help it. Even then, his compliments made my heart flutter.
“You are my fucking dream girl, whoever-the-hell-you-are, and a change like that simply doesn’t happen overnight.” He gave me a wry look like I was a misbehaving parrot. “So, come on, out with it. You’re Sue’s sister, right? Her twin sister? Either that or you’re some psycho fan who got plastic surgery to look like my wife.”
“Sister,” I snapped. “I’m her twin sister, Sarang.”
That irritating smirk melted away as understanding dawned. “Sarang? So that’s why Omma kept calling you that.” He cursed under his breath like he was pissed he missed something obvious. “The whole time I thought she was being sweet, but I should’ve known better. That woman did not have a sentimental bone in her body.”
“Don’t you dare!” I shouted. “Don’t you dare speak ill of my mother now after you—after you—!”
He cupped his hand to his ear, making a show of leaning in. “After I what?”
“After you killed her!”
“And there it is,” he crowed. “You’ve accused literally everyone else on the planet, it was only a matter of time before you worked your way to me. The only problem is that I didn’t do it.
